The question of sex and modernity in China, part 1

This chapter addresses the question of sex and modernity in China, from around the early to mid-twentieth century. It begins with a discussion on the Chinese character xing 性, the modern and scientific term for sex, which emerged around the 1910s and 1920s. To illustrate the cultural and political dynamics of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, the case of Zhang Jingsheng 張競生 (1888–1970), whose ideas combined eugenics with the pursuit of sexual pleasure, is examined. The similarities between Zhang’s theory and ‘inner alchemy’ lead to an analysis of the fate of the so-called ‘Daoist’ practices, from Ye Dehui’s 葉德輝 (1864–1927) textual reconstructions to the advocacy of ‘cutting off desire’ by modernising Daoist adepts. The chapter ends with Western intellectuals, like Joseph Needham (1900–1995), who saw something appealing in ancient Chinese sexuality and thought that it could be refashioned as an antidote to modernity.